THE CHOICE.
October 10, 2021
Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time – B.
An Ivorian proverb says: “He who has the choice has the
pain.” And a Bantu proverb adds: “When a lion cannot find the flesh to feed on,
it has no choice but to eat the grass.”
Life is a choice. Here is a beautiful reality we should all
agree with. To live is to make the decision to let go of something for another.
Unless one is able to choose, his whole existence is a succession of
unhappiness and unfulfillment. He always feels that something is lacking. That
he has something more to do to reach his goal. In this process of choice, a man
goes from mistakes to mistakes. He thinks he can supply what he is missing with
material possessions and riches. But in truth, we all thirst for something
greater than material. We thirst for God, and God alone. The way to gain what
one needs the more is to let go of the ephemeral and passing possessions and
realities.
“Jesus enjoins his disciples to prefer him to everything and
everyone and bids them "renounce all that [they have]" for his sake
and that of the Gospel. Shortly before his passion, he gave them the example of
the poor widow of Jerusalem who, out of her poverty, gave all that she had to
live on. The precept of detachment from riches is obligatory for entrance into
the Kingdom of heaven.” CCC 2544.
The liturgy today, 28th Sunday in the Ordinary Time B, is an
exhortation to make the right choice. In the first reading, the author of the
book of Wisdom shows the way. He says he has deemed all the worldly riches as
nothing in comparison to wisdom. The wisdom in question here is God. In
comparison to God by one’s side and in one's life, any other thing is deemed as
nothing. This extract narrates the singular experience of King Solomon. Asked
by God in prayer at Gibeon to ask what he wanted, the King asked nothing more
neither less than Wisdom, that is prudence in judgment, comprehension, the
spirit of discernment, and knowledge (2 Chronicles 1:11-12). Solomon understood
that before wisdom, all material possessions, all gold, all money, or jewel are
just a little sand, fleeting and leaving man with an emptiness. Only wisdom,
only God can fill our emptiness and thirsts. And he who chooses wisdom lack
nothing in this earthly life. When a man chooses God before all material
things, God also provides him with the material he needs for a worthy and happy
life. If you choose God, God in return chooses you to manifest his glory.
Another beautiful experience in the Gospel comes to prove
this affirmation. The episode of Jesus and the young man. Mark says that a man
ran up, knelt down before Jesus, and asked him, "Good teacher, what must I
do to inherit eternal life?" In simple, what choice do I have to put
between my material and God? For, though having all these possessions, the man
felt that something greater was missing, he felt a kind of inner emptiness.
For, material possessions cannot fill up our spiritual emptiness, our void of
God's presence.
To this young man, the Lord Jesus proposed the need of
making a choice, "Go, sell what you have, and give to the poor and you
will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me." It is a call to put
one's trust in God more than in material possessions and riches for safety. We
could quote here the Psalm 33:17 and paraphrase it saying, “Illusion that
riches for glory: a fortune does not give salvation.” And the encounter of the
young man with the Lord ends that, the man went away sad, his face fell. His
heart was filled with his possessions, and he could not open any windows or
door for God to enter in.
A warning to you and me that, material possessions, when not
put at their right position dig a great and abyssal emptiness in man's heart.
And so, even though one may get the whole world, nothing can fill this abyss.
Life teaches us that, even if the poor man suffers, the most
sorrowful people are those who have no other riches but material and money.
Their money can assure them only fleeting securities and joy, but not the deep
inner peace and happiness. It is not an evil thing to have money, to dream to
be rich, to be surrounded by material possessions and treasures. But if that is
all that matters for us, if that is all that we have, then we live in the most
distressing poverty and even a miserable life.
There is a need for us to open to discernment and make the
right choices for our lives. We need to open a room in our lives for God and
his word to dwell into us. Because, as the Letter to the Hebrews says,
"the word of God is living and effective, sharper than any two-edged
sword." We need to let this word penetrate and transform us from within.
The call is clear for us today, chose God, and him before anything else. For, he who has God has everything, while the absence of God leaves an unquenchable thirst and void into one's heart. Sadly, many people live today in this emptiness and refuse to acknowledge their inner void. We should examine our heart, and ask the Lord, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
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